​

Federal agents located and recovered 15 industrial drones capable of dispersing large amounts of liquid chemicals after they were stolen from a New Jersey company, according to officials.

Fifteen Ceres Air C31 industrial spray drones were stolen from CAC International, a logistics and shipping company in Harrison, New Jersey, on March 24, according to The High Side Substack, with one expert warning the theft could become a “nightmare scenario.”

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST

Homeland Security Investigations Newark said on Wednesday that the drones were recovered in Dover, New Jersey, over a month after they were stolen.

The New Jersey State Police said in an earlier statement to Fox News that the drones were recovered at Prudent Corporation, a trucking company that has a warehouse at the location.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

“On April 27th, the New Jersey State Police Cargo Theft Unit recovered 15 stolen agricultural drones and spray systems. These drones are labeled as agricultural drones due to their specified function as registered crop dusters. The theft occurred on March 24th at CAC International, a logistics and shipping company located in Harrison, NJ. The drones were recovered at Prudent Corporation located in Dover, NJ. This is an active, ongoing investigation that Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Patrol are assisting with. No additional information is available,” the New Jersey State Police wrote.

Former FBI agent Steve Lazarus said the drones could be a danger to the public.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Even common chemicals, used improperly, can be a public safety danger. Throw in the Internet recipes for biological and chemical weapons that anyone with a Tor browser has access to, and this is a potential nightmare scenario,” Lazarus said in an interview with The High Side.

“These aren’t hobby drones with cameras. They’re industrial sprayers designed to carry and disperse significant amounts of liquid quickly and with precision.”

This is a developing story.

​

A California judge has rejected claims from convicted killer Scott Peterson’s Los Angeles Innocence Project defense team that witnesses saw his wife alive after her 2002 disappearance on Christmas Eve.

Judge Elizabeth Hill of the San Mateo Superior Court found the testimony and purported evidence that her disappearance was linked to a nearby burglary inadmissible.

Peterson was convicted after a five-month trial in 2004 of the murder of his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner.

SCOTT PETERSON PROSECUTORS LAY OUT ‘OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE’ AGAINST KILLER’S NEW APPEAL IN 337-PAGE FILING

While Peterson has for years suggested the suspects in a burglary at the house across the street from where he lived with his wife in 2002 could have killed her, prosecutors said that the break-in happened after she had already vanished.

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

He initially received a death sentence, which was later reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2021.

He has a separate petition pending before the California Supreme Court to have his conviction overturned due to alleged juror misconduct, and his Innocence Project legal team said it would appeal the judge’s decision Tuesday.

SEND US A TIP HERE

The court had previously rejected Peterson’s requests for new DNA testing in the case on almost all of the evidence, aside from a piece of duct tape found on his wife’s pants.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

Laci Peterson was pregnant at the time she vanished. Her remains were later recovered in the San Francisco Bay. So were their son’s, at a separate location.

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST

Police arrested her husband in 2003 near the Mexico border after he bleached his hair blond and departed Northern California with his brother’s passport and $10,000. He had a new goatee and just purchased a used Mercedes in cash, using the name “Jacqueline,” which he told the seller was “a boy-named-Sue type thing.”

At trial, a woman he was having an affair with named Amber Frey testified that he told her his wife was dead a month before she went missing.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

In recorded calls, he told her he didn’t want to be a father and was considering a vasectomy.  

And his alibi, which was that he was fishing when his wife disappeared, placed him in the same body of water where her remains were later found.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Prosecutors have written in court filings that a police K-9 picked up her scent at a boat ramp in Berkeley, Calif.. They said her hair had been found on a pair of needle-nose pliers recovered from the vessel.

The autopsy also suggested her remains had been weighted to the sea floor before she broke apart and washed ashore — and prosecutors included evidence that Peterson made multiple homemade anchors out of concrete and rebar.

​

A federal grand jury handed down indictments for two individuals connected to the assault on Turning Point USA reporter Savanah Hernandez at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest in Minneapolis earlier this month, Fox News Digital has learned.

The suspects were indicted on Tuesday, sources told Fox News Digital, though their names have yet to be released. The sources said the indictment is expected to be unsealed later Wednesday.

This is a developing news story; check back for updates.

Fox News Digital’s Kelley Kramer contributed to this report.

​

California authorities have announced an arrest in a 35-year-old cold case in which a mother mysteriously vanished from her home, leaving behind her young child and all of her belongings. 

James Lawhead Jr., 64, was arrested in Bullhead City, Ariz., on Friday and faces charges stemming from the 1991 kidnapping and murder of Cindy Wanner, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. 

“This is one of the most notorious and heinous cold cases we have here in Placer County. We’ve never given up pursuing justice for Cindy and her family, we hope this is a small step in the healing process,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said in a statement.

Wagner was 35 years old when she disappeared from her home in Granite Bay, Calif., on Nov. 25, 1991. She left her 11-month-old alone in a highchair, along with her car, shoes and coat.

PARTY PREP TALE FALLS APART AS HUSBAND CHARGED IN WIFE’S DECADES-OLD COLD CASE MURDER

Three weeks later, her body was found in a remote area near Foreshill roughly 40 miles from her home. 

Authorities determined Wagner had been strangled.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

The search for Wagner’s killer ran cold, until authorities submitted a final piece of evidence to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office for DNA testing to name Lawhead as a suspect, officials said. 

Lawhead, who was 30 at the time of Wagner’s alleged murder, had been released from prison in 1991 after serving 11 years behind bars for sex crimes involving a child.

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Authorities noted that he had seemingly vanished, pointing to a staggering lack of documentation involving his whereabouts that had not been updated since 2005. 

The revelation led authorities to determine Lawhead had likely assumed a new identity and, by working with local law enforcement agencies in areas where he was believed to have been living, investigators used facial recognition to find a match.

SEND US A TIP HERE

Detectives subsequently uncovered that Lawhead had been living in Bullhead City, Ariz., under the name Vincent Reynolds. 

He was subsequently taken into custody with assistance from the Bullhead City Police Department and booked into an Arizona jail, according to authorities. He is expected to be extradited to Placer County to face charges.

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST

The investigation also led to the arrest of Lawhead’s 71-year-old sister, Terry Lawhead Steele, authorities added.

Steele was arrested in South Carolina on Saturday on an accessory charge.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

“Although Steele had spoken with law enforcement several times over the years, including with our detectives just weeks ago, and claimed she had not heard from her brother in more than 20 years, investigators discovered James Lawhead had been living in a home she owned,” authorities said. “Evidence also showed the two had remained in communication.” 

Authorities are now investigating whether Lawhead is responsible for similar crimes in the area, according to police.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

It is not yet clear whether Lawhead has retained an attorney. 

“This arrest is a powerful reminder that time does not erase responsibility, and it does not diminish our commitment,” Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said. “Cold cases are not forgotten cases — they remain urgent, they remain personal, and they remain a promise we intend to keep. 

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

​

A Chicago alderman says the state’s no-cash bail law has been “utterly manipulated and abused,” and is calling for changes after a felon on pretrial release allegedly killed a police officer inside a hospital.

Alphanso Talley, 27, was charged on Monday after allegedly killing 38-year-old Chicago Police Department officer John Bartholomew at Swedish Hospital on Saturday, and injuring another officer in a shooting.

Talley allegedly shot both officers around 11 a.m. at the hospital, where officials said he was taken into custody for a previous armed robbery. While he was being taken to a CT scan, prosecutors said he had a gun underneath his blanket, which he pulled out and then shot both officers.

He was wanted after allegedly robbing a Family Dollar store on Saturday morning and pistol-whipping one of their female employees, taking her wallet and keys.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democrat, told Fox News Digital that the SAFE-T act, the law that eliminated cash bail in Illinois, needs to be overhauled after Saturday’s shooting, which was allegedly committed by someone who was on pretrial release.

“It absolutely needs to be amended because I think while the intention was good, not forcing people to sit in jail because they couldn’t afford bond on minor crimes, it has been utterly manipulated and abused by dangerous violent repeat offenders who have no regard for the sanctity of human life, no regard for property, and no intention of ever following the law,” Lopez said.

Alphanso Talley’s prior convictions (Illinois Department of Corrections records):

• Possession/aiding and abetting a stolen motor vehicle (entered prison: Oct. 2, 2023)
• Aggravated battery of a peace officer (entered prison: Oct. 2, 2023)
• Unlawful use or possession of a firearm by a felon with a prior conviction (entered prison: July 19, 2021)
• Aggravated robbery — indicating while armed with a firearm (entered prison: Nov. 1, 2017)
• Aggravated robbery — indicating while armed with a firearm (entered prison: Nov. 1, 2017)
• Aggravated robbery — indicating while armed with a firearm (entered prison: Nov. 1, 2017)
• Aggravated robbery — indicating while armed with a firearm (entered prison: Nov. 1, 2017)

Prosecutors say Talley’s prior gun conviction from 2021 and four aggravated robbery convictions from 2017 make him eligible for a charge of unlawful possession of a weapon by a repeat offender.

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

When Talley was accused of murdering Bartholomew and shooting another officer, he was out of jail on pretrial release for a previous armed robbery case.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on March 11 while he was on pretrial release for the alleged armed robbery.

SEND US A TIP HERE

Lopez said people like Talley don’t deserve to get pretrial release, arguing he should have remained locked up until his trial.

“Those individuals do not deserve to enjoy any kind of sympathy from us, the law-abiding citizens of Illinois, after they commit their fourth, fifth, eighth, twelfth, seventieth crimes, because what they’ve already shown us is a willingness to continue the pattern of illegal criminal violent behavior,” Lopez said.

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST

Part of the issue, Lopez argues, is that judges aren’t correctly using someone’s criminal history when making a determination on if someone should remain in jail until their trial.

“Judges are not seeing the full breadth and scope of what’s going on in someone’s criminal history — or they’re not allowed to use that in making their determination. And that is what is allowing these individuals who oftentimes have multiple arrests to go and get electronic monitoring and be sent home,” he said.

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

Retired Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy told Fox News Digital that this incident is a glaring example showing why Illinois’ no-cash bail law needs to be changed, and how the system failed Bartholomew.

“Here’s a guy who’s accused of a violent crime and armed robbery and he’s allowed back out on the streets and then he cuts off his electronic monitoring device. And that is a deliberate act that calls for revocation of the bond,” Roy said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Talley was charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated unlawful restraint, armed robbery, aggravated discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated battery of a peace officer, aggravated battery, escape and unlawful use of a weapon.

Fox News’ Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.